Tag Archives: arkansas realtor

Before Selling Your Home…

Only 7% of home sales in 2021 were FSBO (for sale by owner). Of that 7%, many of these were sales between family members and people who knew each other. Meaning, even in an extremely low inventory market (aka HOT seller’s market), most sellers hired a real estate agent to do the legwork.

Instead of listing out all of the reasons why you *should not* sell your house without an agent. I’m going to educate you as to how the RIGHT fit agent can help you when it comes time to sell your home.

First, a great LOCAL agent knows the market. They’ve been inside many of the homes that have sold and are for sale. That gives them a leg up when it comes to the current market values of homes in your area so they can help you to price strategically and attract the most buyers. They know what buyers are looking for and what turns them off, therefore knowing what you can do as a seller, to create the most demand.

A lot of the “work” you’ll do when selling your home happens before it’s ever for sale. This is the “pre-market prep”. I guide my sellers through this process whether it’s staging recommendations, furniture placement, paint updates or small repairs that should be done prior to the home hitting the market. This takes the guess work out of it for sellers, because like I said, I’m familiar with what buyers want (as well as what would be considered red flags that we should fix).

I’ll also leave you with an important stat to keep in mind. According to NAR (National Association of REALTORS):

  • FSBOs (for sale by owners) typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes;
  • FSBO homes sold at a median of $260,000 last year, significantly lower than the median of agent-assisted homes at $318,000.

The moral of the story is this: A great agent will help you maximize the sale price of your home, putting more money in YOUR POCKET. That is done through their extensive market knowledge, pricing strategies, pre-market prep guidance and out of the box marketing tactics – all while navigating every step of the process for you so you don’t have to figure it out yourself.

Why Do You Want to Buy A House?

Have you ever asked yourself this?

Why do you want to buy a house? Or maybe for you, it’s a new house..

I want all of my home buyers to answer this question at the start of their journey because it’s something you can continuously come back to throughout the process to make sure you’re buying the house that’s right for your needs.

Here are a few examples that might help spark your why:

👨‍👦‍👦 👩‍👩‍👧‍👧 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👦

To raise your family

🖼 To have a space to make your Pinterest boards come to life and paint the walls whatever color you want

🐶 To have a yard for your dog to run around in

💵 To make a good financial investment

💰 To invest in a rental property that will provide you with some extra income

🌅 To buy a home for retirement

🌊 To have a place to get away and hear the ocean waves as you sip your coffee every morning

🛋 To finally design your space to look like it’s straight out of Studio McGee’s Dream Home Makeover and have those dreamy parties around the massive kitchen island

There are so many reasons for owning a home, but what is YOUR reason? Ready to buy? Give me a call!

What HGTV Isn’t Telling You About Your Real Estate Agent

HGTV makes selling your home look easy peezy, lemon squeezy. Now that we’re talking about lemons, pour yourself an ice cold glass of lemonade and let me reveal what your real estate agent does that HGTV doesn’t show you!

A good agent will:

  • Create massive demand through digital marketing strategies.
  • Price your home appropriately to net you the most money possible because they know the market.
  • Negotiate the contracts to make sure you’re not leaving money on the table.
  • Get you the most eyeballs o your home and increase exposure.
  • Help you prepare your house for market because they know what buyers want.

With a background in digital marketing and a sincere desire to help you get top dollar on the sale of your home, the items above are things I excel in.

Request my free 5 page guide, Home Seller Bootcamp, created just for sellers who want to get a leg up on the competition before starting the selling process.

Rockansas

Say what? How do you even pronounce Rockansas? Rock-An-Saw. This is what my broker calls Arkansas because it’s just so rocky here. One of my colleagues said when he was little, he would have to pick up rocks as punishment. When I put up a sign on a listing, I often have trouble getting it in the ground because of the rock. David’s contractors at NATCO struggle to bury fiber because of the rocks.

I tell you all of this for background. Back during my first couple of weeks as a REALTOR, I got a call from a man. He was so upset because a listing that was just perfect for him got away. Hot market, you know?

So I asked him if I could help him find something similar. He proceeded to give me a wish list: I want acreage, bluffs, I want to be close to the Buffalo River, I want a cave, waterfall, and rocks. Rocks, lol. I replied that rocks were really easy to come by in Arkansas and laughed. There was dead silence on the other end of the line. I’m not sure where this man was from, only that he had a heavy southern accent and didn’t find the fact, that rocks are really easy to come by in Arkansas funny. Oops.

Pretty rocks in Arkansas near Bull Shoals Lake

It IS funny to me, though. Now, every time I’m walking around a piece of land here, either previewing it or showing it to a client, and I see rocks, I can’t help but think about the conversation I had with that man because it IS funny. There are just so many rocks here.

Rocks in Arkansas near the lake with some driftwood

We are getting ready to close on our new place in Lead Hill tomorrow. After we made our offer on it, we took a side by side and drove around the 53 acres. I was absolutely thrilled to find beautiful rock shelves in the back acreage and I know I’ll be spending some quality time on my portion of Rockansas.

My REALTOR Life

Do you like the shows Million Dollar Listing LA and Million Dollar Listing New York? I do. I love looking at the luxury properties, the oversized personalities of the agents, the flashy cars, and the fabulous fashions. 

On some level, I must have thought that my real estate life would resemble their lives in some way. So please forgive me that thought. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I thought I would be showing big fancy houses. Nope. I find myself out “in the dirt”a lot. There is a lot of raw land available for sale in Arkansas and I have shown so much of it.

I thought I would be wearing pretty dresses. Nope. Out in the dirt, I’m typically wearing jeans and a T-shirt. If I get dirty it doesn’t matter if I get caught on something pokey, it doesn’t matter.

I thought I would be wearing kick butt shoes. Nope. I’m wearing my rubber boots. That way, if I have to walk in chiggers or a creek I am equally protected.

I thought I would be wearing big beautiful earrings and other fancy jewelry. Nope I wear diamond posts and my silicone ring in place of my wedding set.

On days when I’m actually showing houses, I’m really excited! It’s a fun change from the dirt. I have to say though, the longer I do it, I get more comfortable with being in the dirt. I’m learning about the various things you need to buy land and what you need to consider before building a house on that land. I’m learning about Corp, river, and lake property. I’m learning about easements, septic systems, and perc tests.

I’ve gotten so comfortable with showing land that I’m actually considering going to the Land Institute and getting some extra training so that I really know what I’m doing. Who would’ve ever thought?